People have frequently encountered difficulties associated with transporting their personal belongings. For instance, although common in the marketplace and convenient for carrying belongings on one's person, backpacks can be burdensome and cause a student, traveler, or working person to become tired from physically supporting such encumbrances over the course of transport. Transporting items, including heavy objects such as text books and personal electronic devices, for example, over some distances may be uncomfortable, deleterious to one's posture, and even ergonomically dangerous.
Another difficulty has been to ensure that one's personal electronic devices may retain electrical power over the course of travel, especially in the event that the availability of grid-connected power in transit or at an intended destination may be limited or otherwise uncertain.
Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,866 to Altschul et al. for a combination wheeled vehicle and article carrier; U.S. U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,614 to Hsu for a slidable bag/box; U.S. Pat. No. 7,431,311 to Turner et al. disclosing a convertible combination scooter backpack; U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,206 to Lee for a carrier for items that is convertible to a wheeled scooter; U.S. Pat. No. 8,282,113 to Veal et al. teaching rideable luggage; and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2008/0210728 to Bihn disclosing a backpack with a solar energy panel. However, each of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages: stowage of a wheeled or scooter portion may be difficult and/or unsightly; the assembly may be arranged so as to uncomfortably situate a stowed scooter portion against a wearer's back when not in use; and the arrangement of wheels may be unbalanced.
For the foregoing reasons, there remains a need for an improved multi-functional carrier or storage device that is able to optionally transport a person.